A little over a month ago "LoriA" sent an email asking about the Dim Sum at Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum, a little restaurant located inside of Vinh Hung Market in Mira Mesa. She was looking for take-out Dim Sum for an event and asked if I'd ever had a chance to sample the Dim Sum. In my reply I mentioned that we had attempted to eat there once, but let's just say that the Market was not having a "good day". It was a pretty hot summer day, and we were met with some very strong "fragrances" emanating from the meat department, which proceeded to snuff out any appetite we had. Since that day, just the mention of this restaurant would send waves of nausea pulsing through the Missus. So it looked as if I'd never get a chance to check out Hong Kong BBQ and Dim Sum.
Finally, overcome with curiosity, I decided to do a quick Dim Sum breakfast at HK BBQ. Solo, of course. My apologies to Lori, for taking so long, as I fear that the date of your event has passed.
I've been told that Vinh Hung Market had once been a movie theater, and you can tell by the set-up, that the restaurant has been built over the structure of a theater snack bar...right down to the lights!
Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum opens at 9am every day, and it seemed that most of the business is of the take-out/steam table variety. The Dim Sum is stacked in a metal tray on the steam table as well, not a promising sign.
I grabbed a seat, and after a few minutes, the harried Young Man that was working both the steam table and waiting tables handed me a fairly large menu (200+ items), and a Dim Sum card. The Dim Sum prices were the same whether you did take out or ate at the tables, and ranged from $1.95 to $2.95. There was a category for "Weekend Special", but when I asked I was told, "no, there are no specials", even though it was the weekend.
Right after placing my order, the Server walked up behind the counter and placed 2 metal containers on a tray and grabbed some Wu Gok with his bare hands, (which kinda grossed me out since he had just been handling money) laying them on a plate and pretty much dumped them on my table.
Pork Siu Mai:
Not only were these cold, but they were pretty tasteless as well. Also, all those greasy yellow spots looked like the Siu Mai in the containers above these were draining on the Siu Mai below.
Har Gow:
The Har Gow were pretty good, nice shrimp flavor, but the wrappers were a bit dried out, again from just lying in the metal pans without adequate heat and steam to keep them moist.
While I was deciding whether I could manage to eat a second Siu Mai, my Beef Tripe arrived:
This was by far the best item of the day, crisp tripe with a nice ginger-green onion-chile pepper flavor. Pretty good.
Wu Gok (Deep Fried Taro Balls)
As you can tell by the blistered appearance, these have not been fried properly and tended to crumble very easily. However, the filling of the Wu Gok was very moist, but very bland, and lacking in flavor(after further thought, I'm thinking it's the pork). I could only bring myself to eat half of one, and took the rest home. The Missus took one bite and said, "this has no taste", and proceeded to return said item to the container, never again to see the light of day......
The service at Hong Kong BBQ was indifferent, but efficient to be honest, the poor guy was running like crazy. As you can tell the prices are on the inexpensive side(total damage, around $11 with tea), but the Dim Sum seems to be very uneven. The roast duck did look pretty good, so maybe....maybe I'll try the Chinese BBQ next time...maybe.
Lori, if you did purchase Dim Sum from Hong Kong BBQ, I hope you had better luck than I did. And in what I though was the Coup de Grace, they couldn't even spell "Dim Sum" correctly on the sign!
Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum
10550 Camino Ruiz(Inside of Vinh Hung Market)
San Diego, CA 92126
Sun-Thurs 9am-9pm
Fri-Sat 9am-930pm
I'm surprise you actually sat around and endure the fact that they were shady. To be honest with you if I don't see it it's fine with me but if I do see what's going on I wouldn't bother or attempt to do what you did. Then again we might have double standards. When I was in Mexico and saw how the local fried up chicharrones and boy was it so so so unappetizing but boy did it taste so so so so good.
Posted by: nhbilly | Wednesday, 30 May 2007 at 10:32 PM
Wow, I always wondered how that place was. It can be a pain having to go to Convoy just to go yum cha and get dim sum, but thanks to you, Kirk, I've discovered Silver Ark after that "guess the restaurant" stint you did! Your opinion on restaurants is as good as gold to me. Good to know HK BBQ and Dim Sum is about how I imagined.
Posted by: chizzed | Wednesday, 30 May 2007 at 11:06 PM
Our friends from Hong Kong take us there regularly for Banquet meals. Over and over again, they have taken us to restaurants that I would normally avoid like the plague, and somehow manage to coax excellent meals from them (helps to speak Cantonese I guess).
At Hong Kong, he usually orders a few days in advance. He'll negotiate a price per head and work with the cook on the meal. We've had some pretty amazing meals in that "shady" little place.
But yah, I wouldn't eat Dim Sum there. The Hong Kong style Won Ton Soup is pretty good for a hangover. But I'd still take a bowl of #1 from across the street any day.
Posted by: Janfrederick | Thursday, 31 May 2007 at 07:59 AM
I always get the pig feet when I'm there. Nice and crispy, usually not too over cooked. I agree about the tripe, it's a solid offering.
Posted by: Steve | Thursday, 31 May 2007 at 09:17 AM
Hi Kirk! After my horrific experience at Lucky Star, I'm now on the hunt for a good, inexpensive, SANITARY dim sum place. Any suggestions?
Posted by: Dee | Thursday, 31 May 2007 at 09:45 PM
Oh, and where can I get some good spicy tako poke around here??
Posted by: Dee | Thursday, 31 May 2007 at 09:57 PM
Hi, Dee- Cathy here. You can get all sorts of poke -one of them was tako when I was there in April- (including three types of tuna poke -mild, 'spicy' and 'wasabi'-) at Bristol Farms in the UTC area for $11.95 a pound. There is a "Poke Bar" as it were where you can fill a container (and it is weighed at checkout) in the back of the store between the Meat Counter and Japanese grab and go section, right behind the Cheese Counter area.
Posted by: Cathy | Friday, 01 June 2007 at 06:57 AM
Cathy, you just made my weekend. I can't wait to get me some spicy tako! Thanks!
Posted by: Dee | Friday, 01 June 2007 at 06:33 PM
Hi Billy - They weren't shady, just a bit harried and careless.
Hi Chizzed - Thanks so much, I try to be as honest as I can.
Hi Janfrederick - It helps to have connections....that's why so many people have great meals at Jasmine, they know the Owners, plan ahead, and such. Us mere mortals on the other hand......
Hi Steve - Pig's Feet...mmmm, sounds good. The tripe was the best thing I had.
Hi Dee - Well, inexpensive Dim Sum? I've got to really check around..... Silver Ark is pretty reasonable, and they always have specials. But, I'll keep my antennas up!
Thanks, Cathy!
Posted by: Kirk | Saturday, 02 June 2007 at 05:05 PM
Dim sum strikeout. Sadness...
Posted by: Chubbypanda | Monday, 04 June 2007 at 01:48 PM
Hi CP - You are right...let us bow our heads......
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 04 June 2007 at 09:31 PM
still have been too afraid to eat ther. i give you bonus points for being brave!!! i have tried the chasiu there and it's delicious. it might have been luck, or hunger, but it was tender and flavorful. it's the regular soy style.. not the sweet glazed type.
Posted by: CharSiuBao | Friday, 08 June 2007 at 05:09 AM
Hi CSB - The Chinese BBQ does look good, it was the first thing that attracted us to the place. Still haven't tried it though.
Posted by: Kirk | Saturday, 09 June 2007 at 10:11 AM
Hi!
I just found out that you reviewed the place I asked about .. haha
I'm disappointed that you had such a bad experience there. I decided to go there with my family for dinner and they offered dim sum at night. The items you got were warm and soft for us. I'm guessing they're more of a dinner place than breakfast.
Either way, I appreciated that you took the trouble to try them out. THANKS!
Posted by: Lori A | Saturday, 10 May 2008 at 01:21 PM
Hi Lori - I'm glad you had a nice dinner...I still haven't tried the BBQ here, but the Dim Sum was bad, even by fast-food standards.
Posted by: Kirk | Sunday, 11 May 2008 at 06:20 PM
I've had very nice dim sum at "The Pearl" restaurant in Rancho Bernardo, it's a large restaurant which is always bustling. I was curious about Hong Kong BBQ Din Sum (?)and I appreciate your review. I think I'll stick with "The Pearl"!
11666 Avena Place, Rancho Bernardo, CA 92128. (858) 487-3388.
Posted by: Gordon Wagner | Friday, 25 July 2008 at 09:07 PM
Hi Gordon - Thanks for visiting and taking the time out to comment. We've been to Pearl many times:
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2005/11/pearl_repeat_pr.html
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2005/11/happy_thanksgiv.html
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2006/11/happy_thanksgiv.html
Posted by: Kirk | Saturday, 26 July 2008 at 01:08 AM
This place is actually a great place. All of their dishes are done extremely well and are authentic. They are also incredibly inexpensive. The exception is the dim sum, but that is because it is not made to order. Do not go there for dim sum. But you will be pleasantly surprised by all the other food.
Posted by: Bob | Saturday, 29 November 2008 at 04:22 PM
This place is actually a great place. All of their dishes are done extremely well and are authentic. They are also incredibly inexpensive. The exception is the dim sum, but that is because it is not made to order. Do not go there for dim sum. But you will be pleasantly surprised by all the other food.
Posted by: Bob | Saturday, 29 November 2008 at 04:24 PM
Hi Bob - Thanks for dropping by and commenting. I recently had the Chinese BBQ here:
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2008/11/hong-kong-bbq-dim-sum-this-time-its-the-chinese-bbq.html
It was ok, but not great by any means.
The term "authentic" is a slippery slope to me... authentic based on what? Chiu Chow Chinese BBQ, a visit to Hong Kong last week, a visit to HK 20 years ago? Which is why I never use that term.... Food is dynamic...and while the Chinese BBQ was OK, it was by no means very good!
Posted by: Kirk | Saturday, 29 November 2008 at 06:32 PM